Gun Cases To Go To U.s. Court

Stiffer Sentences And Quicker Trials Are Program's Goals

NORFOLK — When Newport News police arrested a convicted felon a few months ago for injuring a person with a gun, witnesses refused to testify against the suspect.

The charges against him seemed to be going nowhere.

But a program called "Project Exile" breathed new life into the case. Instead of dropping it, officials charged the man with federal offenses. Last month, he was indicted by a federal grand jury and faces up to 10 years in prison if found guilty.

"We don't need the witnesses now," said Newport News Detective Rick Reid. "The gun is the witness. Without the federal charges, he might have just walked."

On Thursday, federal and state authorities formally launched Project Exile in Newport News, Portsmouth and Norfolk, all cities with a "disproportionately high murder and wounding rate from firearms in the hands of criminals."

The purpose of the effort is to keep guns away from convicted felons and drug dealers. From now on, when firearms are seized from criminals or dope peddlers, there is a good chance the cases will be tried in federal court instead of in state courts.

The results? Stiffer penalties and quicker justice. In state court, for example, a convicted felon caught with a gun could be sentenced to between one and five years. In federal court, the same conviction would bring up to 10 years and a $250,000 fine.

Generally, the time from arrest to trial in the federal system is less than 70 days. In state courts, cases are more likely to be bogged down for months by continuances or witness woes.

Project Exile started in Richmond in early 1997. So far, more than 200 people have been indicted on federal charges and 260 guns have been seized there. The average sentence has been about five years.

U.S. Attorney Helen Fahey said during a news conference at her World Trade Center office that she decided to bring the program to Hampton Roads because "gun violence in the Tidewater area continues at an unacceptable level.

"While there has been some recent progress by local police, the death rate remains high," she said. "Families in some neighborhoods are virtually prisoners in their own homes. It is time that gun thugs be locked up rather than those innocent families. These thugs have forfeited their rights to reside in our community and we intend to remove them from the community."

A task force made up of local police officers - including Reid - and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has been formed to review gun cases and possibly recommend them for federal treatment. Most of those will involve guns found during vehicle stops, search warrant executions or street stops.

State troopers are referring all of their firearms seizure cases to the task force.

It is expected that between 100 and 150 firearms cases per year will be transferred from state to federal courts, Fahey said. In those situations, prosecutors will argue against bond and seek nothing less than mandatory minimum sentences, she said.

So far, 23 people in the region have been indicted under Project Exile. Of those, three are from Newport News and one is from Isle of Wight. Sawed-off shotguns and an array of handguns taken from the men and women charged were displayed Thursday as Fahey introduced the project.

Officials were shocked, Fahey said, at the extent of the suspects' criminal records. Several had between four and eight convictions for offenses as serious as robbery, abduction and murder.

The recidivism rate for criminals is about 80 percent, according to Glenn Anderson, resident agent in charge of the Norfolk ATF office.

"I think this will cut down on violence," he said. "In Richmond, violence was cut down significantly."

Howard Gwynn, commonwealth attorney for Newport News, said he was "very much looking forward" to the success of the initiative. Two of Gwynn's assistants will be authorized to try federal cases in order to lighten the load for the federal prosecutors.

"This is the kind of rule that needs to be strictly and vigorously enforced," he said. "I hope it works. We need to explore any avenue we can to take guns out of the hands of criminals."